Early Valentine for Myotai

Snow
on
Snow

quietly
softly
ah
the white ground
so good
so good

xoxo
Do'on

"Meticulous Kindness" Part 3 of 4

The Dance of the Buddhas

Thanks to James Ford Sensei for sharing this...

- Rin

Taking the Precepts

Rinsen thought that it would be nice for me to post a few words on my recent experience of taking the Precepts with Jundo Cohen, the teacher at the online Treeleaf sangha. So, here goes!
We started our preparations for jukai (taking the Precepts) back in September last year. Jundo used Aitken Roshi's The Mind of Clover as the main text for our online discussions, supplemented with a variety of other materials. I'm more of a "lurker" than a "poster" on blogs and discussion boards, so it was often a bit of a challenge for me to participate in conversation . . . but it was great to share ideas and reflections with other voices literally across the world. Jundo shaped the experience in other ways, too, with metta practice, samu (work practice), and opportunities to interact directly with him through webcams. We also worked together sewing a rakusu, with Jundo filming lessons on sewing by Rev. Taigu. I don't have a lot of sewing experience (some buttons, maybe!), so the rakusu was a challenging and genuinely humbling experience that was, in itself, true practice: sewing meditation! Our jukai ceremony took place just a couple of weeks ago - it's recorded on Jundo's blog - and was a truly remarkable and unforgettable experience I shared with people from Japan, China, Israel, Germany, Sweden, England, Spain . . .
I also received a dharma name from Jundo, though I was very happy to discover that Jundo and Rinsen had collaborated on it. Jundo gave me the name "Monsho"; "Mon" means "literary" and "Sho" means "bell" . . . and anyone who attended the TZC retreat in December knows exactly why Rinsen helped pick this out for me!
It's hard to capture in words how much the experience of taking the Precepts means to me. But, because so many of my fellow precept-takers in (on?) Treeleaf have the online sangha as their only connection with practice, I am often reminded how grateful I am for everyone in the Toledo sangha: Jundo and Rinsen, Treeleaf and the TZC - I'm very happy to have the best of both worlds!
Gassho,
Simon.

Dates for Retreats at Lourdes College

We have confirmed the following dates for weekend retreats at Lourdes. In addition I am posting the tentative dates for the zen arts workshops. As of today we have Kaz Tanahashi , for the brush workshop and Steven Forrester for the haiku workshop. I am still working with Mr. Kakutani on confirming a date for the pottery workshop.

____Lourdes College weekend retreats:

April 17,18,19

June 5,6,7

August 21,22,23 This will most likely be an Introduction to Zen retreat

October 23,24,25

December 11,12,13

______The Zen Arts workshops at TZC:

July 19 Talk on the Nature of the Zen Arts

July 26 Zen and Music Improvisation with Rinsen

July 31-August 2 (tentative) Zen and Tea Bowl Making

August 7-9 Zen and Haiku

August 14-16 Zen and the Brush

We may decide to hold some of these Zen Arts Workshops as one day only so treat the dates as somewhat 'fluid' for now.

Gassho
Do'on

Truck in the snow.

Truck in the snow,
pushing as I can.
The cold winter air knows nothing of a missed gig!

- Rin

Thank you Day

For James Ford


1.
tea cup
tea cup
tea cup
satisfies thirst



2.
snow covered
day
the foot
her print
most intimate




3.
washing dishes
handle
in
hand
swish swish
this this
dish dish
she is here
Kannon
is
here


Gashho
Do'on

Attachment to Views

"One of the primary ways that we do great harm to ourselves and to those around us is by becoming attached to a particular view. 'Attached' here means a very specific thing: it means sort of an unexamined clinging that has almost a panting, desperate quality to it. The majority of these views, these opinions that we hold, are actually unknown to us, ironically enough. They're more or less unconscious." - Rinsen

Drink the GourdCast of Rinsen's talk and discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on June 4, 2008. HERE.

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

My aunt gave me a copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones for Christmas. I like it. To my surprise I feel like sharing some of my reflections. I think I am happily getting swept along in the current of open communication, transparency and partnership of our new Administration. I hope they help. How wonderful it would be for our Sangha if, feeling so moved, others would blog about their reading of the Cup of Tea story or any other Zen Story that moves them.
A cup of Tea
Nan-in a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire abot Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He pured the visitor's cup full and kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!
"Like this cup", Nan-in said, You are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"


I imagine the professor had been ushered into Nan-in's study. Surrounded by books leather, and easy chairs he probably felt a sense of familiarity, comfort and security. It seems to have taken off the edge of encountering the Boundless Body of Nan-in. Here was this sixteen foot Buddha before him and he's going on about the Zen books he's read, perhaps even taught.
Surely he had come with burning existential questions. They had simply been covered up with the familiar clank of his mental armor. Sound familiar? One doesn't have to be a professor to nod yes---been there, done that.
Years of being burned alive in the dokusan room have made it clear to me that meeting with a Zen teacher is not a fact finding mission. Neither is it an encounter that confirms one a place in the the pantheon of those who' really know what is going on'. All she cares about is our freedom, our warmheartedness, our clarity.
Clearly Nan-in saw both the deep questions and the armor. He deftly reached in to contact the soft underbelly; that fertile ground of all our true questions. And what a dramatic contact it was. A teacher will use what ever is at hand to wake us up. Imagine that hot tea splashing all over your lap: the immediacy of that, the audacity of that, the exposure of that, the pain of that.
You cry out, "Stop that 's too much." Mercifully, your soggy lap has started to teach. I am sure Nan-in had a big grin on his face watching the bands of restraint disintergrate in the heat of that wet moment.
Through that opening he placed his hand into the hand of the Person of No Knowledge and gave a good scolding or perhaps scalding to the one who knows.
I wonder how the professor responded. If he was lucky there were tears of tea rolling down his cheeks. If not there is always another cup of tea.
I sure feel the trace of my tears. And, if the the day should come may I have the wisdom, compassion and courage to keep pouring the tea.


tip the cup
into the potted plant
sip it slowly
gulp it down
smash it
place it on the shelf
offer it to a friend

the teaching of the tea leaves
never grows cold


In Peace and Possibility,
Do'on

Metta Practice

Greetings!

I wanted to share with everyone a website where you can obtain cd's that provide guided imagery which is, I think, related to metta practice. I listen to guided imagery almost everyday and it has really helped me change alot of negative thought processes. The site is http://www.healthjourneys.com/. Belleruth Naparstek is typically the reader of these audio sets. She is a former psychotherapist and wrote the book Invisible Heroes, which was very eye opening for understanding how trauma effects people and how to overcome it. Her guided imagery cd's, however, have different themes depending on the category. If you look on the website, there is a massive amount to pick from. I have a couple if anyone wants to borrow them.

Just thought I'd share that.......... Peace. Angela

We Are the Change!

Can I get a witness? Amen! Amen! The Reconstructive Age is upon us--perhaps another Golden Age. In his first official act after taking office President Obama declared yesterday a "National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation". Let's all take some time to reflect on what that means for us. Do we need to be more regular in our sitting practice? Do we need to renew our vow of warmhearted, whole body and mind practice? To whom do we need to send metta? President Bush? What disaffections from our country need to be healed?
President Obama has pledged to make the government more participatory, more communicative and more transparent. Lets all vow to do the same with the Zen Center and in all aspects of our lives.
As the president has so eloquently said 'let us serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century. '
We know where that starts!
In peace and possibilty,
Do'on
(check out whitehouse.gov)

Equanimity

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik gives a talk and leads discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on June 11, 2008.

"Develop meditation that is like the earth, for when you develop meditation that is like the earth, agreeable and disagreeable contexts will not invade your mind and remain. Just as people throw clean things and dirty things, excrement, urine, spittle, pus and blood on the earth, and the earth is not horrified, humiliated or disgusted because of that." --Buddha

Listen via iTunes Drinking Gourd Podcast, or HERE.

Do'on Represents Buddhism at MLK Celebration!

MLK day is my favorite holiday. I love representing the Zen Center at the University of Toledo event. It makes me so happy to see so many diverse people coming together to honor the call to a peaceful, celebratory life. I was honored to sit between two black women preachers and cast my eye upon the rich tapestry of faith traditions, students, business and city leaders. I say 'Yes We Are!'

- Do'on

PS: Here is a video clip of my participation in last years event for those who may not have seen it yet, along with some Buddhist MLK home learning goodies from Rinsen and Nyoi:

Rinsen's "Meticulous Kindness" part 2 of 4

Part 1 of 4 is posted below or viewable HERE.

"The Spiritual Journey"

A Drinking Gourd Podcast talk and discussion at the Toledo Zen Center with Rinsen on May 28, 2008.

"Long seeking it through others, I was far from reaching it.
Now I go by myself and I meet it everywhere.
I now am not it, and just now, it is nothing but myself.
Understanding this way, I can be as I am."
-Master Dong-Shan

Rinsens "Meticulous Kindness" 1 of 4

Sangha New Years Party!

We will hold a Sangha open house pot luck new years (and my 40th birthday) party at our home January 18th from 3-9pm. All are welcome!

Bows,

- Rinsen

Ancestors Workshop January 25th - Po Chu-i

"The Word-treasury carries afar every division of the Dharma,
and the mind-beacon lights a thousand lamps.
Abandoning the written word completely is not the Middly Way;
dwelling forever in the empty void is the Lesser Path."


Sunday January 25th we will hold our monthly Encountering the Ancestors afternoon workshop from 1:30-4:40pm. This month, we will look together at the life, teaching, and poetry of Po Chu.

This will be proceeded in the morning with an open zendo from 9-noon.

Suggested Dana for the workshop is $25.00